The Milwaukee Brewers are looking to build a 2-0 series lead over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, as they’ll send Aaron Ashby to the hill to face Shota Imanaga at American Family Field.
Ashby, who has
worked primarily in a relief role the last two seasons, made a career-high 43 appearances this year (one start), spanning 66 2/3 innings with a 2.16 ERA and 76 strikeouts. A former fourth-round pick, Ashby has made nine career appearances against the Cubs, with a 5.33 ERA and 33 strikeouts across 27 innings. That includes 9 1/3 innings this season across three appearances, in which he allowed four runs and struck out six.
Ashby will likely be followed (whether that’s immediately after or later in the game) by Quinn Priester, who has often worked as the “starter” after an “opener” this season. In 29 appearances (24 starts) this year, Priester had a 3.32 ERA and 132 strikeouts across 157 1/3 innings. Three of those appearances (two starts) came against the Cubs, as he allowed 10 runs over 14 1/3 innings with 11 strikeouts, though seven of those runs came in a rough 4 1/3 inning relief appearance back in May.
Imanaga has pitched to a 3.73 ERA with 117 strikeouts across 144 2/3 innings this year, though the Cubs have lost four of the last five games he’s pitched in, including Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Padres. In four career starts against Milwaukee, three of which have come this season, Imanaga is 1-3 with a 5.73 ERA and 18 strikeouts across 22 innings.
Manager Pat Murphy has already announced that he’s using the same lineup he did for game 1, per Adam McCalvy, meaning Jackson Chourio will play. Chourio’s status was up in the air after he suffered an apparent hamstring injury and exited Saturday’s game early, though it wasn’t deemed to be very serious, at least by Chourio himself. He’ll leadoff and start in left once again. Murphy added that Chourio won’t be 100% and he’ll be removed if he’s showing signs that he isn’t up to the task, per Todd Rosiak.
Behind Chourio is second baseman Brice Turang, catcher William Contreras, and Christian Yelich at DH. Andrew Vaughn bats fifth as the first baseman, followed by Sal Frelick, Caleb Durbin, Blake Perkins, and Joey Ortiz.
First pitch in this one is set for 8:08 p.m. CT and will be televised on TBS and HBO Max. As always, you can also tune in on the Brewers Radio Network.
